P The 327th Session of the University Philosophical Society has been one of our busiest ever, as we’ve worked incredibly hard to provide consistent and varied events of the highest quality for our members. Our Thursday night debates have been extremely successful and well-attended. Topics have included Comedy, Overpopulation, Gay Marriage, Freedom of Speech, Pornography, Scientology, Euthinasia, the Occupy Movement, Artificial Intelligence, Abortion, Patriarchy, Islam, the Catholic Church, Nightclubs, Greed, Torture, and Northern Ireland. These featured some extremely high profile guest debaters who would command a whole event to themselves, including Bryan Dobson (RTE), Peter Tatchell (World-renowned gay rights activist), Vincent Lavery (Irish Free Speech Movement), Johnny Anglais (renowned “adult entertainer”), Sir Terry Pratchett, (British novelist of Discworld fame), Charlie Bird (RTE), Dr. Eamonn F. Healy (St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas), Maajid Nawaz (cofounder and Executive Director of Quilliam) among others.
We have also hosted a diverse range of accomplished individuals for whom students would be interested in hearing. Honorary Patrons this year included Neil Strauss (Author of The Game), Courtney Love (rock star), Prof. A.C. Grayling (philosopher, Founder & Master of New College of the Humanities), Olivier Blanchard (Chief Economist of the IMF), Eddie Jordan (racing commentator), Dominic West (actor of The Wire fame), Sir Christopher Lee (actor), Roddy Doyle (Booker prize-winning author), Rafael Benitez (former Liverpool FC manager), and most prominently of all, Nancy Pelosi (Democrat leader and former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives) along with 8 other congressmen for the Phil’s first Inaugural Meeting since 2008. Other guests still to come at time of writing included Hugh Laurie, Chief Justice Susan Denham, and Patrick Stewart. On the competitive debating side, the Phil has one of its most successful years in recent memory. In terms of Intervarsities, we sent teams to the SOAS IV, UCD Novice IV (with 3 teams breaking to the semi-final), UCD
Vice Presidents Cup, Cambridge and Oxford IVs, Cork IV (with 6 speakers of the 8 in the final from a Phil pedigree), World Universities Debating Championships in Manila (where Ricky McCormack and Dave Byrne became the first Phil team to reach the octo-finals in nearly decade), Galway IV, The Irish Times and Irish Mace Competitions (where the Phil’s Keating sisters reached the final of The Irish Times), and will be sending teams to the Limerick IV, DCU IV, Maynooth IV and European Championships in the coming months. We also hosted 3 sets of “masterclass” workshops: the “EU and the Credit Crisis: Masterclass with John Palmer, “Ethics of Pro-Life” Masterclass with Ryan Bomberger, and “The Middle East” Masterclass with Tim Marshall. On top of all that were are in-house debates: our drop-in debates, the Maggies, and The Lizzies - all of which gave less experienced debaters a chance to try their hand at it. We also host The Bram Stoker Club, a weekly paper reading session run by the Phil. Through it members have the opportunity to listen to a paper on a different topic each week and take part
in a discussion, and around 20 members are also given the opportunity to present their own paper on a topic of their choice over the course of the year. Furthermore, we also held a number of once-off but equally successful events, such as a “Can We Be Good Without God?” debate with the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS), the USI Disaffiliation Debate which saw the Phil’s Dave Byrne debate USI President Gary Redmond, a VDP Charity concert with Trinity Orchestra, Singers and the Jazz Society, the Rag Week Quidditch Tournament, and a comedy debate with the Comedy Society as part of their Trinity Fringe Festival. The enormity of the behind the scenes work, and thankless jobs that had to be done to make all of this possible was staggering, but hopefully we reached and pushed the limits of what a collective of young people working on a voluntary basis can achieve this year, making the Phil go above and beyond what a typical society offers to its members. Eoin O’Liathain, President phil@csc.tcd.ie